REAM SHUKAIRY
Author of
The Next New Syrian Girl (Little, Brown, 2023)
Ream Shukairy is a Syrian American born and raised full-time in Orange County, California and part-time over summers in Syria. Whether in California or Syria, she feels at home where her family is and wherever there’s a beach. She has a talent for learning languages and is always on the search for the next place she can travel and flex her words. The daughter of immigrants, there isn’t a stereotype she won’t try her hardest to defy.
Books by REAM
SIX TRUTHS AND A LIE (LBYR, 2024)
Six Muslim Teens are falsely accused of a deadly attack in this timely and harrowing examination of America’s justice system, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Samira Ahmed.
As fireworks pop off at a rowdy Fourth of July bonfire party, an explosion off the California coast levels an oil rig—and a beach town is left reeling from its aftermath. At the center are six Muslim teens.
An old soul stuck in a modern world. An aspiring doctor caught in the wrong place. An influencer with a reputation to protect. A perfect daughter with secrets to hide. A soccer star headed for Stanford. And an immigrant in love. Six strangers with something to hide and everything to lose.
Faced with accusations of terrorism, The Six are caught in a political game that will pit them against each other in exchange for exoneration. As they investigate what really happened that night, which secrets will be worth the cost of freedom? The Six must decide: betray each other to guarantee their own future or expose their secrets to earn back freedom for them all.
THE NEXT NEW SYRIAN GIRL (LBYR, March 14, 2023)
New York Public Library Best Books of 2023
Kirkus Reviews Best of 2023: Our Favorite YA and Teen Books
Furia meets I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter about the unlikely friendship between two very different Syrian girls, the pressures and expectations of the perfect Syrian daughter, and the repercussions of the Syrian Revolution both at home and abroad.
Khadija Shami is a Syrian American high school senior raised on boxing and football. Saddled with a monstrous ego and a fierce mother to test it, she dreams of escaping her sheltered life to travel the world with her best friend.
Leene Tahir is a Syrian refugee, doing her best to adjust to the wildly unfamiliar society of a suburban Detroit high school while battling panic attacks and family pressures.
When their worlds collide the result is catastrophic. To Khadija, Leene embodies the tame, dutiful Syrian ideal she's long rebelled against. And to Leene, Khadija is the strong-willed, closed-off American who makes her doubt her place in the world.
But as Khadija digs up Leene’s past, a startling and life-changing discovery forces the two of them closer together. As the girls secretly race to unravel the truth, a friendship slowly and hesitantly begins blooming. Doubts are cast aside as they realize they have more in common than they each expected. What they find takes them on a journey all the way to Jordan, challenging what each knows about the other and herself.
Fans of Samira Ahmed’s Love, Hate, and Other Filters and Tahereh Mafi’s A Very Large Expanse Of Sea will love Khadija and Leene’s sharp-witted voices in this dual POV narrative. The Next New Syrian Girl is a poignant and timely blend of guilt, nostalgia, devotion, and bad-ass hijabees.
Praise
"The Next New Syrian Girl captures the importance of friendship and the complicated journey one undertakes in the present to reconcile both past and future. A heartfelt and multifaceted novel that sings of hope." ―Laila Sabreen, author of You Truly Assumed
"A poignant story of two girls who are so different yet the same. Shukairy lays out both sides of a diaspora and a refugee and the longing both feel towards a home that has lost too much. As a Syrian, I was seen. One word to describe this debut: beautiful.” ―Zoulfa Katouh author of AS LONG AS THE LEMON TREES GROW.
“The Next New Syrian Girl finds empathy, light, and connections in a story that sheds insight into war, trauma, and loss. Khadija and Leene’s journey will stay with you long after the last page.”―Adiba Jaigirdar, award-winning author of Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating